An Illustrated History of the USA

MIssouriter rito ry. \vh ichwasparto f the Louisiana
Pu rch ase.Southern ersarguedth atslavelabo r should
beallowedin Misso uriand all t heothe rlandsthat
fo rmedpanoftheLouisianaPurchase.Both
abolitionist s an dothernorthernersobjectedstrongly
to this.North ernfarm ersmov ing westdi d notwant
to find thcmsclvcscompetingfo r landagams r
so utherne rswhohadsian'stodotheir workfor
them. E ventu allythetwosidesagreedona
co m pro mise.Slaverywouldbepermittedin the
Missouri andA rkansasterritoriesburbannedIIIland s
toth ewestandnorthofMissouri.

The Misso u riCompro mise,asit wascalled.didnot
endthedi sp ut es betweenNorthand Sout h. By th e
early1830sanotherangryargumentwasgomgo n.
This tin u-theargumentbeganover im po rtd uties.
North ern statesfavoreds uch dut iesbecausethey
protect edtheiryoungindustriesagains t the
com petitionofforeign manu factu redgoods.
Southernstareso pposedthembecausesoutherne rs
relieduponfo reignmanufacturersfo rboth
necessi tiesandluxuriesofmanyk inds. Im po rtduties
wou ld raisethep ricesofsuchgoods.
During th eargumentaboutimport duti esa southern
polit ica l l eadernamed Joh nC.Calhou n raiseda
muchmoreS~T10USq ues ti o n .H e claimedth at astate
hadth e ri ghttodisobeyan yfede ral lawifthesta te
believed thatthe lawwould harmit s interest s.This

II NORTI I....x n xo uru

idea wasstro n glysup po rtedbyother sout herne rs.It

became knownasth e"sta tes'righ tsdoct ri ne."

Calhoun's claimw asst ro ng lyden iedbySenator

D an ielWebsterofMassachusetts.T hepo werto

d ecidewhetherthefe-deralauthoritieswereact ing

rightlyorwronglybelongedto the Supre me Court.

saidWebst er,not toindividual states,If s ta teswere

given th e rig h t to disobeythe fede ralgovern me nt,he

said,itwouldbecome"amereropeofsand"and lo se

itspowertoho l d rhecountrytogether.Webster's

speechwasa warn ingtoAmerica ns th atth e sta res'

righ ts doctri ne couldbecomea se riousthreatt othe

unity o f theUnitedStates.

Inth enexttwentyyearstheUnitedStaresgrew

much bigger.In 1846it dividedtheOregon

T er rit or ywirhBritain .In 18-l8it to o k vast areasof

th e Southw est fromMexico .Obtaini ngthesenew

land sraisedagainthequestion thattheMissouri

Compro mi seof182nhadtriedtoscnlc-.sho ul d

slaver y be allowedonnewAmericante rritory?Once

againsouthernersansvvered"yes."Ando nceagain

northerne rs said"no."

In 1850 C ongressvotedin favorofanother

compromise.Californiawasadmittedtothe United

Statesasa frcesta te,while peoplewholivedIIIUtah

and N ewM exico weregiventh e rig httodecid efor

them sel veswhether ornotto allo w slaver y.

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